The Bugle

infobox podcast
title = The Bugle
host = John Oliver, Andy Zaltzman
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/the_bugle/
status = Weekly
rss = [http://podcast.timesonline.co.uk/rss/thebuglemp3.rss Podcast(MP3)] [http://podcast.timesonline.co.uk/rss/thebugleaac.rss Podcast(AAC)]
audio format = Stream, MP3, AAC
began = 14 October 2007
genre = News, Comedy
language = English

The Bugle is a weekly satirical news podcast, hosted by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman, and distributed by TimesOnline. New episodes of The Bugle are released on Mondays with related material appearing on the official website. [cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/the_bugle/ |title=The Bugle |accessdate=2008-08-20]

Features

* Ask an American- Every few episodes, a guest known only as The American (voiced by The Daily Show producer and comedian Rory Albanese [cite web |url=http://community.livejournal.com/thedailyshow/1669696.html |title=thedailyshow: I saw John Oliver last night in Scottsdale |accessdate=2008-08-18 |author=st_secular |date=2008-04-27] ) will appear on the show. He is a mildy-offensive caracature of a working-class American; xenophobic, lazy, and ignorant. He is from New Jersey (supposedly- some fans have claimed he is from another part of the US or even from England) and often gets in heated debates with John, each twisting each others' logic in attempts to validate their points.

* Hotties From History- This feature began roughly around the time the show reached double digits. For several consecutive weeks, Andy had been mentioning his attraction to Florence Nightingale with progressively lewd language. This culminated with John calling Andy out on this, however it only provoked Andy into encouraging listeners to e-mail in other historical figures they were attracted to. Hotties From History was born. John was initially against the idea, but when Andy put a slideshow of the nominations onto the Bugle blog and John had watched it, he declared that he had become a 'total convert'. The ground rules for the contest are only that the nominee have been dead for roughly half a century- otherwise it would be creepy. At the end of each month, Andy announces the male and female nominations with the most votes, crowning them 'Mr. and Mrs. (Month). Some of the stranger nominations for the position have been Joanna the Mad, Tiresias, Johannes Kepler and the Toba Eruption. The latter led to a new rule that nominees "must be human."

* Audio Cryptic Crossword- Pioneered by Andy, this was a fan favourite. Towards the end of each show, Andy would give a space & direction in a crossword grid (available on the blog), followed by a clue. After a few weeks, John commented on how there was probably nobody actually doing the crossword, which Andy refuted forcefully. Each week, John would progressively declare his hate for the crossword in larger terms until it became a major divisive point between the hosts, each trying to rally support from fans in their favour (Andy receiving the majority). After the final clue was given in episode 29, John gave his opinion on the Crossword as a whole: "I see the glorious history of the Audio Cryptic Crossword as I see the glorious history of the Third Reich- a "terrible" idea that was rammed down peoples throats for far too long." Andy replied that he agreed with the Third Reich comparison, but for different reasons: It was "a triumph for persistence, doggedness, and the value of standing up to pressure from the other side of the Atlantic." The following week a listener named Elliot sent in a completed crossword, while another listener, Oliver Keys, stated firmly that he was extremely glad the Crossword was over. Andy retorted that "people were glad when the war was over, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the greatest part of British history." The hosts have come up with several ideas for segments to fill up the space once occupied by the crossword, but none have lasted more than a couple weeks.

Offshoots

* The Bugle Blog- Andy periodically updates a segment on the Times Online website with extra e-mails, information on the Bugle, and downloadable versions of the past few episodes. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/thebugle]
* An unofficial fan website made in the Wikipedia format, The Bugle Wiki, is currently in its opening stages. Its features include a massive page for lying (as per Andy's instructions in Episode 41), individual pages for each of the features of the Bugle, and other pages for recurring or notable subjects or themes in the Bugle (e.g. Volcano Porn and Sark).

References

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/audio_video/podcasts/the_bugle/ The Bugle Homepage]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/the_bugle/ The Bugle Blog]
* [http://www.bugle.wikia.com The Bugle Wiki]